Hope in a Bottle

ABC News: 20/20/June 1, 2007

ELIZABETH VARGAS (ABC NEWS)

(OC) Good evening, and welcome to '20/20." So what would you do? You have a life-threatening illness. Your doctors insist on traditional therapy, but you've heard stories of a miraculous little pill that could cure you. Would you take the risk?

JOHN STOSSEL (ABC NEWS)

(OC) You're about to meet a young woman who said yes to that risk. When you have cancer, you wanna try almost anything. Tonight, we find out if the risk paid off. But what is in this pill? And who sells this hope in a bottle? Jim Avila took our hidden cameras to investigate.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(VO) If there was ever a young woman who needed a magic pill and a little good luck, it's Angie Rhoads, a 22-year-old college student from suburban Kansas City, Missouri. Angie has had a rough medical life and a string of bad luck that began at age 7. Her father died of a brain tumor. When she was 18, her mother died of a lung hemorrhage. And then last summer, Angie collapsed on a canoeing trip with friends. Like her dad, she, too, had cancer of the brain. Left untreated, Angie says she had a prognosis of three years to live. Doctors advised immediate surgery.

ANGIE RHOADS (CANCER PATIENT)

You know how everyone says, 'Well, it's not brain surgery." I'm like, 'Well, yeah, it is." It was just a big white area on an MRI that I saw.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(OC) So you could see the tumor? How big was it?

ANGIE RHOADS (CANCER PATIENT)

Yeah. It was the size of a fist.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(VO) The surgery is delicate. That fist-sized tumor is reduced to two small hot spots of cancer deep inside her brain.

ANGIE RHOADS (CANCER PATIENT)

And the doctor felt that if he would have taken those out, I would have been paralyzed. And so that's why they suggested the chemo and radiation after I was done.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(VO) But Angie didn't do that. She decided not to take the medicine, ignoring her doctor's advice and took a giant step into the unknown. A friend had told her about a pill that would not subject her to the side effects of radiation or chemotherapy.

ANGIE RHOADS (CANCER PATIENT)

A girl's hair is everything to them. And I did not wanna be the bald girl.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(VO) Worried about all the side effects and afraid conventional medicine would not work, this young woman began taking mega doses of a food supplement, Ambrotose. Her doctors, say Angie, were not pleased.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(OC) What did they say, if anything?

ANGIE RHOADS (CANCER PATIENT)

They pretty much said, 'If you were my daughter, you would be doing chemo and radiation."

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(VO) But she is not a doctor's daughter, and she has faith that this food supplement does much more than improve nutrition.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(OC) But you think it does cure cancer even though it's not FDA-tested.

ANGIE RHOADS (CANCER PATIENT)

I feel that it can cure my cancer, yes.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(VO) What is this stuff and why haven't you heard of it? It's a sugar pill. No, I mean literally a pill made out of sugars found in larch bark and aloe vera. Selling so well that 'Forbes" magazine named the company that makes it, Mannatech, one of the fastest growing companies of 2006. You can't get it at a store. It's only sold through multilevel marketing, independent sales associates. An estimated 500,000 of them around the country last year. They try to sign you up, not just for the product, but to become an associate yourself.

MANNATECH SALES ASSOCIATE (MALE)

You find three people here, that's three people on your first level. And they find three, you have nine, then you have 27. If you add that up, you have 1100 people.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(VO) Officially, the company calls it a simple nutritional supplement. And so do many of its salespeople.

MANNATECH SALES ASSOCIATE (FEMALE)

These products are food. They're under a term called glyconutritionals or nutroceuticals.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(VO) But critics have charged that some associates are selling Ambrotose as a miracle cure. So for three months, '20/20" went undercover with hidden cameras, infiltrating Mannatech sales meetings around the country. Meetings that always began with disclaimers like this one.

MANNATECH SALES ASSOCIATE (FEMALE)

It's not medicine. It doesn't treat. It doesn't mitigate. It doesn't cure anything.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(VO) But listen to what other associates were saying only minutes later.

MANNATECH SALES ASSOCIATE (MALE)

She comes in five months after we're working together and tells me that she's breast-cancer free.

MANNATECH SALES ASSOCIATE (FEMALE)

The doctor came from surgery and says, 'I don't know what you guys have been doing, but the tumor is gone."

MANNATECH SALES ASSOCIATE (MALE)

Some of those kids that would die won't die if they get this information fast enough so I can...

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

Claims the company cannot make because, although a month's supply cost $200, the pill is not an FDA-approved medicine or cure for anything. But our '20/20" investigation shows these health claims are being made by Mannatech associates on the Internet and at sales meetings. Independent contractors who are the only people who can sell you Ambrotose.

MANNATECH SALES ASSOCIATE (MALE)

This is the biggest breakthrough that's been happening, that has happened in 100 years, including more serious than the breakthrough to discover penicillin.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(VO) Greater than penicillin? The company sales force says the product is based on cutting-edge science called glycobiology. That is a legitimate science. And we spoke to two of the leading scientists studying sugar in the body. They say there was a huge disconnect between this new real science and what Mannatech sells.

HUDSON FREEZE PHD (THE BURNHAM INSTITUTE)

There are authentic, scientific studies that have looked at people drinking these kinds of materials, and it doesn't really do anything except increase flatulence.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(VO) And, say these scientists who are outraged that their groundbreaking work is linked to Mannatech and its sugar pill, there is no proof the sugar in this food supplement can be used by our bodies.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(OC) Mannatech says that we don't have enough of these basic sugars.

RONALD SCHAAR PHD (JOHNS HOPKINS SCHOOL OF MEDICINE)

It's wrong that we don't have enough of these. As a matter of fact, just about everybody absent just a handful of rare congenital, genetic disorders can make all the sugars already.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(VO) Dr. Freeze is angry his work is being used to sell products.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(OC) Your work is being cited as proof that people can benefit from Mannatech products.

HUDSON FREEZE PHD (THE BURNHAM INSTITUTE)

I think it's deception.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(VO) And then there are the DVDs and CDs that, during our hidden camera investigation, we found associates recommending as sales tools.

PATIENT (FEMALE)

Two months ago, I got a complete body CT scan and the cancer is gone.

PATIENT (FEMALE)

I also had rheumatoid arthritis in my hands and it's basically all gone, too.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(VO) The DVDs never mention the company by name and always have disclaimers, but still contain the same outrageous claims, touting the general benefits of glyconutrients.

PATIENT (MALE)

That I was going into a wheelchair and give up my lifestyle. And glyconutrients have changed my life. They worked.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(VO) It's not that the people on the DVDs and at the meetings don't know where the line is. Listen.

MANNATECH SALES ASSOCIATE (FEMALE)

I'm gonna do the legal stuff. These, these products are food. They don't treat or mitigate or cure anything. They're food.

GRAPHICS: CLIP FROM "THE CANCER VIDEO"

MANNATECH SALES ASSOCIATE (MALE)

What I've been sharing with you is not a way to treat, mitigate or cure disease.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(VO) With that, quote, 'legal stuff," as some call it, over, the amazing health claims can begin again.

MANNATECH SALES ASSOCIATE (MALE)

They laid all the studies up and told them, says, 'Tom, it's incredible. There's been a miracle. We cannot find any evidence of your pancreatic cancer."

HUDSON FREEZE PHD (THE BURNHAM INSTITUTE)

I get mad about it. They're twisting the truth and they're trying to make it serve their purposes.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(OC) For the record, in your scientific opinion, can Ambrotose cure cancer?

HUDSON FREEZE PHD (THE BURNHAM INSTITUTE)

No.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(OC) Can it cure MS?

DOCTOR HUDSON FREEZE PHD (THE BURNHAM INSTITUTE)

No.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(OC) How about cystic fibrosis?

HUDSON FREEZE PHD (THE BURNHAM INSTITUTE)

Not at all.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(OC) AIDS?

HUDSON FREEZE PHD (THE BURNHAM INSTITUTE)

No.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(OC) So does it cure anything that you know of?

HUDSON FREEZE PHD (THE BURNHAM INSTITUTE)

No.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(OC) But somehow people getting the impression that it does.

HUDSON FREEZE PHD (THE BURNHAM INSTITUTE)

Funny thing, yeah. How, how would that happen?

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(VO) For Angie Rhoads, testimonials worked. It's what convinced her to battle cancer with faith in God and a sugar pill.

ANGIE RHOADS (CANCER PATIENT)

A lot of the stories from other people who had taken the product had made me feel confident in what I was doing.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(VO) Stories compelling enough for Angie to bet her life on hope in a bottle.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(OC) I have so much empathy for you. It must be a very difficult. It's a difficult burden and difficult decision to make...

ANGIE RHOADS (CANCER PATIENT)

Mm-hmm.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(OC) ...to go against what the guys in the white coats are saying, right?

ANGIE RHOADS (CANCER PATIENT)

Right.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(OC) I mean, the doctors are pretty firm on this. You ought to be having treatment.

ANGIE RHOADS (CANCER PATIENT)

Right.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(VO) Angie and one of her doctors agreed that she could always start chemo or radiation later if her cancer gets worse. But for now...

ANGIE RHOADS (CANCER PATIENT)

I truly feel that God put this product in front of me for a reason.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(OC) Mm-hmm.

ANGIE RHOADS (CANCER PATIENT)

And so I believe in this product.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(VO) Although she says she does not recommend that people stop their own medical treatment, Angie believes so strongly she started telling her story on cancer sites, encouraging other cancer victims to buy the product.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(OC) Evidently, you're confident enough to be spreading the word, too, right? I mean, you're telling other people who have cancer they should take it.

ANGIE RHOADS (CANCER PATIENT)

I really feel that no matter what a person's going through, you, for instance, you could take it. It will only make you better.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(OC) So they're gonna be inspired by you, right?

ANGIE RHOADS (CANCER PATIENT)

They should be.

ANNOUNCER

When '20/20" returns, Angie believes this little pill can cure her cancer. But what will today's tests reveal?

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(OC) And what are you hoping it's gonna say today?

ANGIE RHOADS (CANCER PATIENT)

That there's nothing left.

ANNOUNCER

Next. '20/20" on ABC, brought to you by...

COMMERCIAL BREAK

ANNOUNCER

'20/20" continues with Jim Avila.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(VO) It's early on a spring morning. Angie Rhoads, a cancer patient who had a fist-sized tumor removed from her brain, is back at the hospital. And a little nervous.

HOSPITAL EMPLOYEE (FEMALE)

Put your wristband on.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(VO) Angie didn't take the medicine her doctors recommended, rejected radiation treatment and chemotherapy, worried they wouldn't finish the job surgeons started on her cancer and would only leave her sick.

HOSPITAL EMPLOYEE (FEMALE)

Well, you look great.

ANGIE'S RELATIVE (FEMALE)

Yeah.

ANGIE RHOADS (CANCER PATIENT)

Thank you.

HOSPITAL EMPLOYEE (MALE)

Is this just a follow-up, a routine?

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(VO) But it's more than routine because today Angie will hear from the doctors if her cancer has miraculously gone away.

DOCTOR (MALE)

The machine's gonna be a bit noisy. This first set of images is about due in five seconds.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(VO) An MRI should show if the two hot spots, the surgeons could not remove six months ago, have shrunk or grown while she refused standard medical care and instead took huge doses of Ambrotose, a food supplement made by Mannatech that Angie believes will cure her cancer.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(OC) If they had a cure for cancer, wouldn't they say that?

ANGIE RHOADS (CANCER PATIENT)

Yes, but they're not allowed to.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(OC) They're not allowed to because?

ANGIE RHOADS (CANCER PATIENT)

It's not FDA-approved, I believe.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(VO) Angie Rhoads believes Mannatech can't brag about a cancer cure because of legal technicalities. And at meetings, others imply the same thing.

MANNATECH SALES ASSOCIATE (FEMALE)

You can't say it yet.

'20/20" PRODUCER (MALE)

That cancer will...

MANNATECH SALES ASSOCIATE (FEMALE)

You can't say it.

'20/20" PRODUCER (MALE)

So how do, but it does do that?

MANNATECH SALES ASSOCIATE (FEMALE)

I can't...

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(VO) But at the same time, she goes on to describe some cures that sound miraculous.

MANNATECH SALES ASSOCIATE (FEMALE)

People with cancer call us every single day, 'The tumor is gone."

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(VO) Claims like these helped convince Angie and, critics say, helped earn the company a staggering $415 million in the last 12 months on its line of products.

MANNATECH SALES ASSOCIATE (MALE)

All right. Let's ask a question here. How many people wanna be rich?

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(VO) But the road to those riches is paved with charges of aggressive and some say deceitful sales techniques by Mannatech associates shown here at a 2005 convention. Last year, the Texas Attorney General launched an investigation of the company. And separately, a class action lawsuit was filed by shareholders who claim the company encouraged its sales associates to say Ambrotose cures a wide range of diseases. All of it, the lawsuit alleges, to boost sales.

MANNATECH SALES ASSOCIATE (MALE)

You're gonna be rich.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(VO) Mannatech denies the charges and has filed a motion to dismiss. One of the most popular stories used by Mannatech sales associates is in this pamphlet with purported before-and-after photos of a Down syndrome child.

TARA HINTZ (MOTHER)

Who's coming to the party?

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(VO) Tara Hintz says she was approached by a Mannatech associate after her daughter was born with Down syndrome.

TARA HINTZ (MOTHER)

He said to me that the longer she takes it, it'll, what's ailing her will start to disappear and then those features will disappear and, you know, eventually, she'll look like a typical child or as close to typical as possible.

FEMALE (TARA'S DAUGHTER)

I actually did?

TARA HINTZ (MOTHER)

You did go there.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(VO) Hintz turned down that Mannatech pitch, but she is still angry her daughter was targeted.

TARA HINTZ (MOTHER)

How dare you prey upon people who have a child like my daughter? You know, she doesn't need to be fixed. She's a beautiful child, and you're making claims that aren't valid.

SAM CASTER (FOUNDER AND CEO

So tonight you're in the life experience section, you get to hear some of the most incredible stories that you can possibly imagine.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(VO) Sam Caster is Mannatech's founder and CEO, and critics say he is no stranger to deception. Although he now lives in this $1.3 million home, complete with a tennis court, pool, and cabana, "20/20" learned that Caster was twice investigated by authorities and accused of making false claims about previous products he sold, including a rodent repelling device that he admitted did not work. His Mannatech co-founder, William Fioretti, who left the company in 1997, is a felon, indicted and convicted in a drug-trafficking conspiracy.

HOSPITAL EMPLOYEE (MALE)

And what are you hoping it's gonna say today?

ANGIE RHOADS (CANCER PATIENT)

That there's nothing left.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(VO) But Angie Rhoads, waiting to here how her MRI turned out, said she was not interested in Mannatech's troubles and still believed Ambrotose would cure her cancer. So we went directly to the top of Mannatech to ask point-blank what its sugar pill called Ambrotose really does.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(OC) So let's make it clear. Angie is watching. Here you are in charge of this company that makes this product she's risking her life taking right now.

SAM CASTER (FOUNDER AND CEO

Mm-hmm.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(OC) Clearly, does your product cure cancer?

SAM CASTER (FOUNDER AND CEO

No, I would say we do not make that claim.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(OC) You know, when I asked Angie directly the same question I asked you, 'Will it cure your cancer, and if it did, why wouldn't the company say that it does?" And she says that you're, you don't say it because the FDA won't let you. Is that the only reason why you say it won't cure cancer is because the FDA won't let you? Or do you believe it cures cancer and you just can't say it?

SAM CASTER (FOUNDER AND CEO

No, I don't think dietary supplements treat, cure or mitigate anything.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(OC) Would you tell her to use the chemo and the radiation her doctors are telling her to do if she were your daughter?

SAM CASTER (FOUNDER AND CEO

If she talked to me personally about it, I would say use standard of care. But, again, she's an adult and she's capable of making her own decision.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(VO) Why do people like Angie put so much faith in Mannatech? Maybe it's because despite limited claims on bottles and official literature, sales associates are coaching potential recruits on how to work around legal restrictions. Austin, Texas, 2007.

MANNATECH SALES ASSOCIATE (FEMALE)

You can't tell people that it's gonna cure anything, but you can say 'I think I have something that will help you with your cancer."

'20/20" PRODUCER (MALE)

Cancer, obviously, that's a big one. What other kinds of diseases can I talk about?

MANNATECH SALES ASSOCIATE (FEMALE)

Anything and everything, autism, MS, CF, fibromyalgia.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(VO) And on this home video obtained by "20/20," watch as this high-level sales associate at a corporate-sponsored meeting in 2006 counsels frontline salespeople in the fine art of walking the fine line.

MANNATECH SALES ASSOCIATE (MALE)

How many of you could think of a target or a market to target? Think of one, tell it right out.

SALES RECRUIT (FEMALE)

Autism.

MANNATECH SALES ASSOCIATE (MALE)

Autism.

SALES RECRUIT (FEMALE)

Cancer.

MANNATECH SALES ASSOCIATE (MALE)

Cancer. There's, there's millions, right? Now, if they're health specific, can you mention Mannatech?

SALES RECRUITS (GROUP)

No.

MANNATECH SALES ASSOCIATE (MALE)

No. Absolutely not. But can you do a list of people that wanna know more about that particular situation?

SALES RECRUITS (GROUP)

Yes.

MANNATECH SALES ASSOCIATE (MALE)

Yes.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(VO) For some Mannatech sales associates, the sick are, in fact, target markets. And Sam Caster sees nothing wrong with that sales tactic.

SAM CASTER (FOUNDER AND CEO

So I don't think it's inappropriate for people to talk about where the marketplace is for people who are looking and wanting good quality dietary supplements with good scientific basis form. It is not meant to substitute a doctor's oversight, but it plays an important role in the whole health equation.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(OC) You're looking for people who are sick with cancer and using them as the market. That's your market.

SAM CASTER (FOUNDER AND CEO

Well, I think, you know, I mean, that's your conclusion that that's the assumption.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(OC) What's your conclusion?

SAM CASTER (FOUNDER AND CEO

My conclusion is this, that when JAMA reports that 50% of the people are looking for dietary supplements - whose health is compromised, the Journal of the American Medical Association has established, that's not just an inch market, that's a massive market.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(VO) A massive market Mannatech makes clear it aims to exploit. CEO Sam Caster says the company does police associates prohibiting them from claiming that Ambrotose cures any disease. But even Mannatech's own patent documents seemed to make questionable claims with a long list of diseases it says can be helped by Ambrotose. Everything from AIDS to MS.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(OC) Some astonishing claims are made in this document of disease MS, restored sensory and muscular control, lymphoma, normalization of tissue biopsies, leukemia or cancer, correction of altered chromosomes.

SAM CASTER (FOUNDER AND CEO

Now, that doesn't mean that's the claim that we would make going into our marketing literature.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(OC) So your sales associates should not be using the patent to sell this product.

SAM CASTER (FOUNDER AND CEO

They should not be using those claims in link with our product in terms of selling the product.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(VO) But look at this. Our hidden cameras caught associates heartily recommending that patent document to potential sales recruits.

MANNATECH SALES ASSOCIATE (FEMALE)

You got to read the patent. The patent says, your body needs this stuff to fix everything.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(VO) Mannatech and its sales associates cite studies many of which were company funded including some they label placebo-controlled that they say show promise.

MANNATECH SALES ASSOCIATE (MALE)

Now 30,000 third-party of (inaudible), that's tons.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(VO) But experts, "20/20" consulted, say there's little evidence that glyconutrients in general are effective and even less proof from Mannatech's own product Ambrotose.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(OC) Is there any valid scientific evidence that this Mannatech product actually works?

RONALD SCHAAR PHD (JOHNS HOPKINS SCHOOL OF MEDICINE)

There's a source for that information, the National Library of Medicine, the index. Three quarters of a million articles written by scientists a year in over 8,000 journals. The number that deal with the therapeutic benefits of Ambrotose is zero. None.

MANNATECH SALES ASSOCIATE (FEMALE)

We are impacting lives.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(VO) So no matter what you may hear from a Mannatech sales associate, remember this from the boss.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(OC) Does it cure aids?

SAM CASTER (FOUNDER AND CEO

No.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(OC) Does it cure cystic fibrosis?

SAM CASTER (FOUNDER AND CEO

Well, let me just say, no, it doesn't cure anything. You can ask me the whole list of diseases.

JIM AVILA (ABC NEWS)

(VO) We wanted to make sure Angie got that message. But after we interviewed her and accompanied her for the MRI, we got this e-mail from her telling us that Mannatech had told her to stop talking to us. Angie finally spoke to us again this week saying the latest MRI revealed little change in the size of the remaining tumor. Angie says her oncologist continues to recommend chemotherapy and radiation. But Angie says she is sticking by Ambrotose, staking her life on a pill made from sugar.

ANGIE RHOADS (CANCER PATIENT)

All I know is the product's worked for me thus far. And as long as it works, I'll continue to take it.